The Art of Seduction
by Catara
Summary: Devlin's trying to figure out a way to let Tristan know how he feels and gets some unexpected advice from Ryou. Eventual tristanduke
1. The Art of Seduction

Okay.. let's see… eventual Tristan/Duke… they're so cute!!!

Diabla ~ I thought you hated Tristan ~

His hair annoys me. I won't pretend otherwise… but watching him try to win Serenity was so cute! 

~ Oh… very well then. Continue. ~

I just love my muse! She's so kind to me… well, I don't own them. If I did, Seto would wear a lot less clothing… 

~ See, that I would like to see. ~

Okay… moving on… hmm.. maybe I should give this story a name

~ It's too easy… ~

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**The Art of Seduction**

_Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. _

I watched them talk with jealousy. It wasn't fair; just when I figured out what I really wanted… Serenity looked up and caught me staring at them. She waved happily while Tristan turned to glare at me. _No, you idiot. I wanted to say. All he saw when he looked at me was someone else competing for Serenity's attention. This unfortunately, was not what I wanted._

"Whatcha lookin' at?" The question startled me, and whirled to find Joey looking at me suspiciously. 

"Um… nothing." _Good going, Devlin. I'm sure he doesn't think THAT was a lie._

"Are you lookin' at my sister?" Oh great, he was going into defensive, older brother mode. 

"Of course not!" The minute I said the words I regretted them. Maybe that was because it was clear he didn't believe me at all. _Or maybe it's because you're worried he did believe you… _This was not the right time for me to develop a cynical subconscious. _ Because if he did… there's not much else you could be looking at. _Nope, it seemed the cynicism was here to stay. Not like I didn't have enough problems to worry about.

He narrowed his eyes as though deciding if he should believe me.  "If you say so…" I managed a feeble grin, not up to normal Duke Devlin standards, but maybe if I was lucky, he wouldn't really notice. Of course, if I was lucky, he wouldn't see any reason to finish his sentence. _Do you feel lucky? _I sighed inwardly; of course he would finish the sentence.

"So, what are you doing then?" Um... come on Devlin, think of a lie…

"Waiting." _Oh. My. God. Is that your answer? I mean, that was beyond terrible. _I winced and tried to add something to it. "Um, I'm waiting for… Tristan. I have to ask him something. No, tell him something." With each additional word, Joey looked more and more like he didn't believe me. But that might be a good thing, I mean, if he didn't believe me then he might think I was lying to avoid his anger. 

"If you say so." He shrugged and walked past me, into the classroom. I kept my position, leaning against my locker, watching jealously as Serenity and Tristan laughed over some inside joke. It was funny to think that a few weeks ago, I would have been jealous of Tristan, and I would definitely be doing something to make Serenity notice me instead, but now… _Now, you've given new meaning to the word 'coward'. _

And the voice wasn't making it any easier.  As I watched Tristan laughed, the feeling of jealousy grew. I was sure I could make him laugh just like that, if I could manage to talk to him. It didn't help that I had this stupid crush on him, and blushed if anyone said his name. Or that he thought of me as a rival. I smiled slightly as I thought of what I would say to him if I could… From there, my thoughts entered into a daydream…

"Duke? Duke?!"  I snapped out of my thoughts with a guilty blush. Serenity was looking at me with concern. "Are you okay?" Behind her, I could see Tristan glaring at me. _Well, it's always nice to know your crush doesn't care about you at all._

"Ya, I'm fine, Serenity. I was just… daydreaming." I could feel the blush darkening, and Tristan's suspicious expression didn't help at all. Sure I knew he didn't think I was daydreaming about him, but it was still embarrassing.

"Class is starting soon. Are you coming inside?" I nodded and followed her. I passed through the doorway at almost the same time as Tristan. Our hands brushed casually, and I felt my heart speed up. He, of course, didn't notice at all. As soon as I was inside, I was immediately surrounded by my cheerleaders. They droned on excitedly about something or the other, but I wasn't paying attention. I kept finding my gaze drawn to the other side of the room where Tristan sat on a desk, laughing at something Joey said. _I think you're hitting the point of obsession. Well, I wasn't obsessed. Not my fault he laughs loudly. _

Our teacher came in and I sat down, fixing my attention ahead of me. Maybe I could pretend he wasn't there if I focused on the lesson. _Sure, then no one would notice you staring. _Paying attention in class wouldn't be that hard, and I didn't stare.

It turns out paying attention was 'that hard'. As she droned on about something involving equations, I found I kept turning to catch quick glances of Tristan. _Yep, this ranks quite nicely as an obsession._ A note landed on my desk and I looked down at it surprised. 

'Hey Duke, need some help? – Ryou' I looked up to find him watching me thoughtfully. I shook my head, indicating I had no idea what he was talking about, and he nodded his head to where Serenity sat, next to Tristan who was passing her a note. He glanced around to catch me staring at him and glared. _Wow, this relationship's really starting on a high note._ I turned my head sharply, to end up with another note smacking me between the eyes.

'I mean with your crush' I felt my stomach lurch, did Ryou know how I felt about Tristan? _Sure, or maybe, like everyone else, he thinks you're interested in, hm, I dunno, the girl you've been flirting with for the past two weeks. _Oh. So maybe he didn't know. Looking at his note again, I wondered if maybe he could give me some relationship advice. I scribbled something down and handed it back to him. 

As the teacher's eyes flipped to us, I flashed my most charming smile and pretended to take notes. When she turned away, another note hit me in the side of the head. Damn, Ryou had good aim.

'Meet me at lunch' I was having second thoughts. What could Ryou actually help me with? Oh well, at least I could pretend he helped. _And then what? Try and convince yourself you don't think Tristan is the sexiest thing you've ever come across? _Well, even if Ryou didn't help, I still had this charming little voice that seemed perfectly willing to destroy whatever self-assurance I had.

My other morning classes went by pretty quickly. I don't know what the lessons were; I spent my time fantasizing about Tristan, whipped cream, and chocolate sauce. Of course, I think I alarmed my teachers with my stupid grin and occasional sighs. So, maybe I was a little infatuated with him. 

I could still remember standing beside Serenity, glaring as she and Tristan shared some inside jock, and suddenly thinking of how cute he looked when he was laughing. From there, it seemed like he haunted my every thought, and my usually dreamless nights had become filled with dreams that made even me blush. I glanced over at him as he sat staring in earnest at what was on the board. He looked so cute when he was concentrating. He bit his lower lip slightly, and I found myself imagining what it would be like to have him nibbling on my lip like that, as his tongue…

I sat up straight, looking around in surprise. The class was empty; the bell rang and I was too caught up in my thoughts to notice. I sighed and stood up; homework was written on the board, but I was too stressed to copy it down. It was lunch, and that meant I was going to have to talk to Ryou. I wished I could think of some way to get out of it, but… _Maybe you shouldn't have written 'sounds good' then. Great, even the voice agreed that this was my own fault._

I walked into the cafeteria without my usual strut. Somehow, there just didn't seem to be a point. I spotted Ryou as he waved to me, and grabbing some food, slid into the seat across from him.

"Hi." Did that sound too unhappy? I really didn't want him to know I would rather not be doing this.

"Hey, Duke. Are you okay?" Sure... if you were willing to overlook the fact that I was obsessing over the one person who hated me.

"Um… sure. About your note?"

"Oh, yes. I just wanted to see if I could help you at all with your crush."

"Oh." Well, as long as I was here, it couldn't hurt. And maybe if I did talk to him, I could get an idea. "Well, it's just, whenever I look at them, my mind goes blank…" _Well, not blank. It just gets filled with thoughts that you don't want to share. "… and I can't think of anything to say. I just, wish there was some easy way I could let them know how I felt."_

"You mean Serenity?" Ryou asked gingerly. "I didn't think it would be…"

"No!" I yelped. Immediately I wished I hadn't. Ryou now looked at me with a peculiar expression. "I mean, it's not her." From his face, I could tell he didn't believe me.

"Are you sure? Because I couldn't help noticing you staring at her earlier." Oh, this was wonderful. Now, if I wanted him to help me I'd have to explain myself. _And what a thrilling conversation that would be. No Ryou, I wasn't staring at HER, I was staring at the GUY in love with her._

"I wasn't looking at her." Fuck, maybe I shouldn't have snapped at him like that. Now he just looks hurt. "Sorry, Ryou, I'm just a little tense." Oh good, at least he's nodding. Maybe he'll pretend he believes me.

"So, what's wrong, Duke? You've never had a problem talking to…" he paused, and I winced slightly. If he said Serenity, I was going to give up. "Um… you've never had a problem talking to a girl you like." _Well, luckily this one isn't a girl… So now I have to pretend Tristan's a girl… or just ignore that, and assume he isn't fully ignorant._

"Well, ya… but this person's different." Uh oh, he's looking at me suspiciously again. Maybe person was a little too general for his liking.

"Oh, okay. Well, if you act like yourself, I'm sure whoever it is will…" Ryou kept talking, but I couldn't hear him. My attention had turned to the cafeteria door, where Tristan had just entered with Yugi, Tea, and Serenity, laughing at something Tea said. He was scratching the back of his head, in an adorable way that showed how much he was thinking about it. 

I felt Ryou's eyes on me, but I couldn't tear mine off Tristan. The way he laughed, his eyes sparkling, his head back, mouth open… almost like he was crying out in pleasure. Here, my thoughts took a sexual turn, and I found myself imagining just what Tristan would be like as a lover… _Did you forget Ryou is here? Shit. I could feel a blush spreading across my cheeks as I turned my attention back to Ryou. He was watching me with a knowing smirk. __Good, now you can forget about convincing him you AREN'T interesting in Serenity. _

"So, tell me a little more about this mystery crush." His grin widened as he watched my blush spread. How long was he going to draw this out?

"Um… beautiful eyes, the cutest laugh, great body, how whenever they're around I feel like the whole world is melting away… and even when they aren't around, as you saw." I added embarrassed, stopping myself sinking into another daydream.

'Okay," Ryou responded, "you can tell me how you feel. So when are you going to tell Tristan?" I felt my cheeks burn and my heart skip a beat as he said my infatuation's name. 

"How… how..." I couldn't even finish as Ryou giggled in delight. I was clutching the edge of the table, feeling that if I let go, I would fall out of my chair.

"You've been staring in that direction all morning, and if you don't like Serenity, then it just made sense that "the person" is someone she's been around." Ryou snickered, clearly thrilled with himself. "Well, what are you going to do?" he demanded.

"Um… I don't know. I can't even talk to him. I was hoping you could help." This was embarrassing. I had to ask for help on how to talk to someone. I waited for Ryou to laugh, keeping my eyes fixed on my plate.

"You're going to have to seduce him." Now I really needed to hold onto the table. I jerked my head up to look at Ryou in shock, getting dizzy from the movement.

"What?"

"You're. Going. To. Have. To. Seduce. Him." He repeated slowly like I was a baby. "But first, you're going to have to convince him you don't want Serenity."

"What? Why?" I cringed as I shrieked. _Very suave. It's no wonder girls like you._

"Because, until you do, he's not going to trust you. And if he's suspicious of you, you're going to have a really hard time seducing him." I blushed again as Ryou used the word seduce. Somehow I didn't think Tristan would understand. I stared at Ryou as he jumped up. "I'll talk to you after school, okay?" I nodded blankly as he ran off.

Sure, I could seduce Tristan. I mean, if I could have a flock of girls cooing over me, it shouldn't be a problem, right?

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Okay, I realize that was lacking in punch… but I'm getting there.

~ It would help if she could write without the embarrassed giggle ~

*glares* I'm working on it. Please Review!!

~ But don't flame her. The smell of burning hair, combined with her wailing about the hair… it's too much for me to handle. ~

No one told you to bring the match near my head. But she's right. As much as I love watching things burn… I'd prefer if those things weren't me.


	2. Lesson Plan

Ooh… second chapter… I'm on a creativity high… That, and possibly Pepsi. 

Diabla ~ … some things, I can't even comment on. ~

But it's true!!! TV is my downfall… stupid Saturday morning cartoons.

~ And yet, you watch them gleefully. ~

Meh. Anyhow, I figure I might as well write this before I have to worry about driving school… or university applications. Stupid waste of time.

~ Can't actually argue with you there. ~

YAY! And I got reviews! I love you!!! *blows kisses*

~ She blushed for like ten minutes. And giggled. Do you know how painful that is for me? ~

Aw.. love you too!

~ No. ~

Ooh… do the disclaimer!

~ No. ~

I'll give you… um… Noah?

~ Okay! She doesn't own it. If she did… well… fangirls everywhere would die of joy… and Tea would just die… or find herself unable to talk. ~

YAY! *snaps fingers and Noah appears*

~ He's just so CUTE! *squeezes Noah until he can't breathe* ~

Okay… be careful. Remember what happened to the pichu.

~ *lets go slightly* hehe... that was an accident. ~

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2: **Lesson Plan**

I was in a daze for the rest of the day. I can't even remember if I went to class. No, I must have gone. After all, I got a note from Ryou saying he would come by my store after school for lessons. I can't think what his lessons are going to be on. I mean, this was RYOU… But, I was willing to try anything if it meant I might stand a chance with Tristan. _Sure, because… it can't be that hard to seduce a straight guy. Ya, there was that. Tristan might not want anything to do with me. So, I might just end up helping him get together with Serenity. Oh, wouldn't that be great. _Isn't this about making HIM happy? _But it wouldn't be fair! Tristan could be happy with me. _Selfish, aren't we?__

I tapped my foot as I waited for Ryou. Patience was never really my thing, and he promised to meet me ten minutes ago. The door opened and he ran in, panting. I felt pretty guilty for making him run. 

"Sorry, Duke. I had to stay after school to talk to Yugi." He was apologizing. Oh, now I felt really guilty.

"No, it's no problem. I… barely noticed you were late." Well, it was nice to see he wasn't stupid. He wasn't even pretending he believed me. "Well, what did you want to teach me?" Oh my god, my teacher was blushing already. This really wasn't going to go well. _Can't argue with that. _

"Oh… well… I just thought I could give you some pointers on seducing him." Laughing might not be very inspiring to him right now… So I just nodded, and hid the fact that I couldn't see Ryou telling ME how to seduce someone. "I mean… I'm sure you could seduce Serenity or something…" Did he have to keep bringing her up? Was he trying to make me feel guilty about that, too? "But, I think I have more experiencing seducing a guy." 

Oh. He's gay. Well, that was a tad unexpected. _Unexpected? Sure, I mean, the Halloween when he dressed up as Catwoman wasn't any kind of indication at all… "Oh. Okay. I didn't know you had a boyfriend." I smirked at him as he turned the shade of a tomato. Was that even normal? Maybe he should see someone about that…_

"Um… ya. We haven't really told too many people. Or… really, anyone beyond you." Ooh… so I was lucky number one. Might explain why his tomato colour was getting worse.

"Really? Do I know him?" If he says Yugi, I'm going to scream and run out of the store. To hell with learning any seduction tips. _Because that would be so very unexpected too. Are you paying any attention to your friends? _

"No." Well, that was a tad fast. Kinda sounds like he's lying through his teeth. I thought about pressing him for more, but he really didn't look well, so I decided to let it go. This also explained why he didn't go to the beach very often. Right now, he sort of resembled a cooked lobster with a lot of white hair.

"Okay. So, what's lesson number one?" I surprised myself with my eagerness. Maybe I was a little nervous about all this.

"Eye contact." Eye contact? I hadn't realized he expected me to actually look at Tristan. I didn't think I could look at Tristan. Maybe I should just write him a letter. _Only a little nervous, I see. So I was right, this was going to be a bad idea. Of course Ryou chose to ignore me, although I think I saw him rolling his eyes. "There are four lessons in all. You apply one a day, so you'll do eye contact tomorrow, conversational innuendos on Wednesday, body language on Thursday, and finishing touches on Friday!"_

He went on to tell me I would seduce Tristan by Friday (if he was going to be seduced at all), and I became certain the whole thing could never work. "You realize he'll never buy this?"

Ryou smirked… which was actually slightly frightening. "So, eye contact. It's pretty tame. You need to start small; just catch his eye, and hold the contact. Give a little wave or wink if you want to. You might not want to do that, just because someone else could notice. 

After you lock eyes, trail yours down his body and back up to his eyes. If you're really forward-" I think I blushed from here, and although I'm certain he noticed, he didn't say anything. "Lick your lips. He'll be pretty surprised after this, so back off. After that, he won't be able to keep his eyes off you."

I chose not to comment that this was probably because he couldn't believe another guy checked him out. 

"Feel free to keep giving him those quick glances during class." The blush deepened even though I knew he'd seen them. "When you think he's recovered, give him your most seductive look. Gauge his reaction to see if he's fully creeped out – which means you probably won't have him by the end of the week – or shocked and confused. Smirk, and if he blushes he wasn't thinking about anything he'll be telling someone else. It's best to do both of these by lunch. Then, you act casually all through it like he's just one of your friends." 

He fixed me with an appraising glance as I started making notes. Who knew he would have so much to say? _He did say he had more experience seducing a guy. You really don't pay attention to anything do you? "In your case, that might be a little harder." He snickered when he said this, which I didn't take as a good sign. "But as long as you tell him before class that you don't like Serenity…" Ryou gave me a mistrustful look. Was I that see-through? "On second thought, I'm not sure I trust you to tell him."_

I protested until he finally became the Ryou I knew, and smiled naively. "You're right." This was better. "Call me when you tell him tonight." My mouth dropped open. _Sucker! _He smiled and continued like nothing happened. "It's important not to give him any more glances. You need to ignore him. The uncertainty and curiosity will win out and he'll be wishing for you to look at him."

I swallowed nervously. All that was lesson one? And that, to Ryou, was tame compared with the other things? Definitely a bad idea.

***

Ryou left two hours later, and I sat in silence for a while, as red as he had been. I blamed lesson three. I was fine hearing about everything, even when Ryou gave me his… personal experiences. But in lesson three, he chose to demonstrate. Somehow, I didn't think I would be able to meet his eyes ever, ever again. He hadn't been joking when he said he knew a lot about seducing a guy.

His last words to me, as he walked out the door, and turned around to casually lean against it, had been, "It's important that your eyes are the main focus. So, put on more eyeliner or something to enhance them. Whatever you're comfortable with." _Now you're wearing makeup. Ryou wasn't kidding when he said you were the submissive one._

He left me with a lot to think about, but before I could begin any of this seduction stuff, I was going to have to talk to Tristan. Ryou was insistent that if I didn't tell him I wasn't interested in Serenity he was going to have problems believing I was seducing HIM. 

Since when he left, Ryou had neared the point of threatening me if I didn't tell Tristan, I decided I might as well talk to him, and get it over with. I knew where he was. He would be hanging out with his friends near the… The door opened and he walked in with Yugi, Joey and Tea. Oh, this was awkward and unexpected. Luckily, I found it very easy to look at the other three instead of him. 

_I bet that somewhere, someone is laughing at you. Loudly. _Apparently, there was no justice in the world beyond cruel irony. At least I didn't have to go and look for him now. That certainly made my life… _Easier? More amusing? More painful? There are a lot of possibilities here._

"Hi, guys! What brings you here?" Too perky? Maybe just a little. Only Yugi and Tea looked like they believed it.

"Yugi was worried about you." Wow, his voice was so hot. I found myself staring at his mouth. Those perfect lips… "Devlin? Are you alright? Maybe you should be worried about him, Yugi. He looks pretty out of it." He kept talking, and I knew they were all looking at me with concern, but suddenly, I found myself unable to think of anything besides his mouth. _I feel it best to warn you, that if you don't snap out of it, they'll probably call an ambulance and get you tested for rabies or something. _

"Um… no, I'm fine." I squeaked. In any case, I'd now proven that having a crush on Tristan was affecting me for the worst. _They could call you… Mr. Suave. Confident, charismatic… with the voice of a mouse. _

"Are you sure, Duke?" Yugi asked, turning those gigantic eyes on me. Aw, he looked really worried, too. Now if only Tristan was that worried about me, I'd be set.

"Oh, ya. I… uh… I think I'm just getting a cold." They all took a little step backwards, like I was contagious, and if they got within three feet of me, they would catch whatever I claimed to have. Gee, now I sounded like my subconscious. Yay. 

"Right. Well, if ya say you're ok, then we believe ya. See ya tomorrow. See Yug, he's fine. Now can we hit the arcade before it closes?" Joey was already moving out the door. 

"Sure! See you tomorrow, Duke!" Yugi seemed really perky today. Of course, he seemed perky yesterday, too… I waved at them as they headed out the door. Tristan was last, and as he went out, he turned around to say… _Idiot! You're supposed to talk to him! _ Whatever Tristan said was lost forever thanks to my subconscious.

"Um… Tristan?" I winced; I needed to get rid of this squeaking habit. "Um… listen, uh, I know that we haven't always agreed in the past…" Oh this would go really well. He was already glaring at me, and I hadn't even gotten to the point yet… "But I wanted you to know that if you want to go after Serenity that's fine because I'm not interested in her anymore." I said it all really quickly in one breathe, just in case he wanted to interrupt. 

"Thanks for letting me know, Duke. I'll keep that in mind. Get better." He gave a little half-smile and then ran to catch up to his friends. 

I figured it was my imagination if he sounded disappointed. I mean, he had nothing to be disappointed about. I basically just gave him the go ahead with the girl he wanted. _Um… on a positive note, he did say get better. Hey, that was right! So maybe, if he wanted me to get better, that meant he didn't hate me anymore!_

I twirled a strand of hair, and started thinking of how I could 'enhance my eyes' as Ryou put it. I was a little worried with how a straight guy would take being hit on, but Ryou's confidence inspired me. I smirked; Tristan wasn't going to know what hit him.

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Well. It was shorter before… so I decided to add to it. And it was still short. Gah! But the next three lessons need to be a surprise. They're funny.

Diabla ~ *sighs and puts away pitchfork* I was going to have fun. Instead… I guess I'll just have to watch Duke seduce Tristan…. *dramatic sigh* ~

Yuh huh. I can't believe you have a pitchfork… The next chapter will be longer! That's when the actual seduction comes into play…

~ uh huh… ~

It is! I started it last night! And Duke is going to be confused. And something will happen by the third lesson… I just need to figure out the right setting.

~ and stop giggling nervously whenever you try to plan it out? ~

Shut up! *giggle* …fine. Review!

~ No flames. I have my little "Burnt Hair" air freshener. It will suffice for now… ~

o.O That's odd…


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